There was an interesting news snippet this week; the announcement that Apple’s head of Internet software and services, Eddie Cue, has joined the board of Ferrari.

There has been speculation about what this might be leading towards, with some suggesting that Apple is interested in the “Connected car” concept, whereby services available in the home will become available in the car, thanks to improved 3g and 4g connectivity.

There is also much for Ferrari to gain in terms of reaching its enormous fan base worldwide with content and raising revenues from it, as Cue has extensive experience of Apple’s ITunes platform. He is also currently in charge of its Siri and Apple Mapping divisions.

“I am pleased and proud to become a member of the board,” Cue said. “I have personally dreamed of owning a Ferrari since I was 8 years old and have been lucky to be an owner for the past 5 years. I continue to be awed by the world-class design and engineering that only Ferrari can do.”

“I am delighted that Eddy Cue, one of the main driving forces behind Apple’s range of revolutionary products, has now joined our board,” said Ferrari Chairman Luca di Montezemolo. “His huge experience in the dynamic, innovative world of the Internet will be of great assistance to us.”

The superstar of the global tech business, Apple has had a tough time lately, by its own high standards. It’s share of global tablet sales has fallen in the face of stiff competition, while the share price is down from its peak at $700 to $600. And there is a storm in the US, as it was revealed that the company paid taxes of only 1.9% on its non-US earnings last year.

This latest move is bound to lead to something interesting and may ultimately lead Apple to F1.

The latest data for F1′s reach relative to other sports is impressive as in most of the mature TV sports markets, it is a strong second behind football.

Watch this space.

* In the photo above, whose hands are on the steering wheel? Leave your answer in the box below and I’ll send a signed copy of the JA on F1 2012 book which will be announced next week, to the first one with a correct answer (A clue: They are not my hands!)

Hey James: can’t we solve this one before the US Grand Prix? For two reasons.
1) The new reports related to the race will have blown this off the page.
2) We are all dying to know just who those aged – but skilled, presumably – hands actually belong to.

Your comment that “Apple has had a tough time lately.” may be a response to transitory shifts in share price and one of its markets but it is very wide of the mark overall – a company that is making record sales and profits quarter after quarter is hardly having a tough time, especially when most of its competitors are seeing revenues and profits in decline.

When James says ‘currently in charge of Maps & Siri’, he actually meant ‘has just taken charge of Maps and Siri, following the sacking of Scott Forstall, who was personally responsible for both technologies until now and refused to sign off on the recent public apology for the shambolic state of Maps’.

Tim Cook was forced to sign it, which seemed to be the straw that broke the back of his tolerance of one of Steve’s favoured sons.

* In the photo above, whose hands are on the steering wheel? Leave your answer in the box below and I’ll send a signed copy of the JA on F1 2012 book which will be announced next week, to you (A clue: They are not my hands!)

But he retracted his guess! FIA regulation 45.1.17 states that if a user demonstrates they are uncertain in their response or follows with a comment that may cast doubt on the previous comment then all comments may be deemed invalid at the discretion of the stewards.

Ah, belay that. Should’ve read the page when I first loaded it, nobody else’s comments were up then. I see at least two others beat me to the Lauda guess, so I won’t be winning anything more than a sense of satisfaction if I’m right.

1. This picture is taken on a test track as the driver seem to be driving the car at very high speed.
2. The car is an old ferrari.
3. This story was posted on the same day James Allen visited the Brackley factory.

>> It has to be Ross Brawn driving his old company car on a test track near the Brackley Mercedes F1 factory

Gone are the days of multiple buttons on a F1 steering wheel. The driver will communicate directly to his car. Can you imagine Alonso shouting:”KERS now Daniela!.” Or Daniela to Alonso: “Easy Alonso, we’re having a long way to go!”

It will certainly be hilarious to hear Vettel swearing to “Kate’s sister” or whatever his 2013 car will be called. Looking forward to the future!

I don’t know, but James has done his homework. The picture doesn’t come up in Tineye, or reverse Google image search. It might be a 456, but doesn’t look like a scanned in photo, so we can probably assume digital and post-2000.

Enzo. He was cyrogenically frozen in 1988. Gentlemen, they rebuilt him. They had the technology. They had the capability to build the world’s first bionic man. Enzo Ferrari is that man. Better than he was before. Better, stronger, faster. Ferrari weren’t going to Germany for aerodynamic testing, they rebuilt Enzo and he will be used to destroy Vettel.

I hear through the grapevine that James has cunningly buried a clue in the dark area of the image to the left of the speedometer – those lucky enough to have access to Photoshop or the Gimp might like to experiment with the ‘Levels’ function…